And More

September 6, 2014

Here's an idea: what would it look like if the entire human
family
made music together as an orchestra? Can you
imagine
the possibility it would unleash for
the world?
To ask the question more colloquially: what if the entire human
familyplayed
in a band? - the same band. Well? What if?

The very idea of a band comprising the entire human
family
with everyone
playing
an instrument and / or singing and clapping is, of course, a simile for
what's possible for being for human being. There's no need to qualify
it by saying it's a simile for what's possible for being for human
being in our wildest dreams. No, the idea's not even
far-fetched, regardless of whether, for the most part, we've given up
on our child-like wonder which renders visions like that possible, or
not. Today "everyone knows" it can't
happen.
We've learned. Man! have we ever learned ... We're
now jaded - and we're smart, to boot. The human
family
working together? all of us?playing
together? for the benefit of everyone? with no one and
nothing
left out? What a concept! It could never
happen.
What a ridiculous idea.

Or so it would seem ...

Seriously: what would it take for it to
happen?
It is possible. You already know that. It's clearly possible. To a
degree, our sustainable
future
depends on it. But we've gotten so far away from the
beginner's
mind
idea of it all working for everyone with no one and nothing left out,
that we're now resigned to it never
happening
(and while no one wants to be the first to say it, it's
killing us to live inside this resignation). The few people
who remain ever hopeful, ever optimistic, know something's
missing, the
presence
of which would allow it to
happen
... but if they tell the truth about it, they can only speculate on
what it is.

What's missing isn't the possibility that it can
happen
(and if you said
what's missing is the possibility that it can
happen,
kudos to you for a good guess). Rather what's missing, I
assert, is the
lead
we would take our cue from for it to
happen
(and in a moment, I'll say what I mean by the
lead
for it to
happen
- it's not the same as a
lead-er
who will make it
happen).
This
lead,
by the way, isn't missing as in "it got lost" or as in
"it's never existed before". Rather this
lead
is missing as in "it hasn't yet been globally distinguished".
It's a
lead
which, once distinguished and experienced,
inexorably
unites human beings - just as if we were all
playing
in the same band, if you like - who
whole-heartedly
take their cue from it.

Groups take their cues from
leads
in order to function cohesively as groups. We already have examples of
groups, countless groups, small and large, working together,
playing
together. A band takes its cue from a drumbeat, the singer, or the
(appropriately titled)
lead
guitar. An orchestra takes its cue from the conductor's baton or the
first violin. Each of our countries as further examples, work together
and
play
together. Within countries, the
leads
people take their cues from are the national culture and the laws of
the country. Each sports team is a another group which works together
and
plays
together. The
leads
they take their cues from are the game plan and the directives of the
team captain and coaches. Each army is another group which
works together. The
leads
they take their cues from are their strategy and their officers and
government.

What we all don't have (it could easily be argued) is the
lead
from which to take our cue for cohesion between all human
groups. The evidence of this can easily be seen in the fragmented state
of
the world
today. We can't even begin to consider the entire human
familyplaying
in a band together because we're railroaded by all the
divisive
leads
which each of humanity's component groups take their cues from. We
simply accept it as inevitable there will be groups which are cohesive
internally, yet are at odds with all other, similar groups externally.
The
lead
each band takes their cue from, isn't the same
lead
all bands take their cues from. The
lead
each country takes its cue from, isn't the same
lead
all countries take their cues from. The
lead
each sports team takes its cue from, isn't the same
lead
all sports teams take their cues from. The
lead
each army takes its cue from isn't necessarily the same
lead
all armies take their cues from (indeed, given the nature of armies,
especially opposing armies, it wouldn't ever be the same).

If this is starting to sound like what I'm
leading
up to is we should all take all of our cues from
God,
as
well-intentioned
as that may seem, what's galling for all of us, and especially what's
galling for religious people of good will everywhere, is the
lead
each religious congregation takes its cue from, isn't necessarily the
same
lead
all religious congregations take their cues from. They're all
dancing
to the beats of different drums, to the point where it's
god-damned
near impossible to even get a pinky-hold on what it may look
like if there were one drum to whose beat we could all
dance.

Well? What is this
lead?
What is this
lead
we would take our cue from for it to
happen?
What
lead
could the entire human
family
take its cue from which would give working together and
playing
together for the benefit of everyone with no one and
nothing
left out like a possibility?

<aside>

I'm inclined to stop right here and end this
conversation
with this open question which will generate many, many answers,
rather than limit the access to future possibility by providing
just one answer.

But that is what I'm going to do. I'll provide one possible answer
now. And I invite you to make up more of your own answers.

<un-aside>

Beyond our identities, beyond our preferences and opinions, beyond our
arguments and righteousness (and yet inclusive of all of the above) is
the
context,
the space in which the events of our lives
show up
ie the
context,
the space in which all the events of all of our lives
show up.
It's this
context,
this space which is
who we really are
ie
who we all really
are. It's this
context,
this space which gives the possibility of possibility
itself - for each of us, for all of us. Every single human
being, all those of us who walk the
planet
today, all those of us who walked the
planet
in the past, and all those of us who will walk the
planet
in the
future,
have equal access to and equal ownership of this
context,
of this space.

This
context,
this space, isn't allocated on the basis of culture, country, creed,
class, or religion. Rather it's inclusive of and
allows all cultures, countries, creeds, classes, and
religions to
show up.
It's not made available by agreement, bartering, coercing, convincing,
or prevailing. Rather it's made available by distinction
alone - which is to say it's made available by distinguishing
it's already here, which is to say it's made available by
each individual distinguishing for themselves it's already
here.

Taking its cue from the
lead
given by the conductor's baton, allows the orchestra to function
cohesively. Taking its cue from the
lead
guitar, allows the band to
play
together seamlessly. I submit taking our cue from the
lead
given by this
context,
by this space, by this possibility, is what it will take for the
human
family
to work together, all of us, to
play
together for the benefit of everyone with no one and
nothing
left out, our entire human
familyplaying
in a band, the same band.

Like the
lead
guitar gives the band its cue,
context
gives our entire human
family
our cue.